The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: roddycm on June 22, 2015, 07:47:33 pm
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Hello
I have moved to south america and have started with my smallholding here! I am shocked to find that there is no good bacon anywhere! I thought this might be a good oportunity for me to produce some good ol'english bacon! there is a large expat community who would buy the stuff in large quantities... my question is which is the best breed for bacon?
I have found the following breeds to be available so please vote for what you would recommend!
Saddlebacks (Hampshire),
Landrace,
Yorkshire,
Duroc Jersey,
Pietrain,
Spotted Poland
No other breeds are available here. I would be happy to do some cross breeding.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated... no one to ask here as they really don't do bacon!
Thanks!
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Wasn't sure what they'd mean by 'Yorkshire' - googled, it's American for Large White.
Personally I'd go for the Saddleback for three reasons.
1. Pink-skinned pigs can be susceptible to sunburn, so a darker skin would be a plus in South America, I'd think?
2. Great tasting pork and bacon :)
3. Really nice pigs
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another vote for saddlebacks and for the same reasons as sally= plus ive got a couple at the moment (due to go in a fortnight) and they've been fab easy boys-
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Way back when, my dad kept pigs for bacon on a large scale. He began with Saddlebacks (which I love), but then changed to Landrace. They are specially bred to be really long, so give lots of slices. Lean as well.
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Aye, and lovely pigs too. :love: :pig: But pink.
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what would your thoughts be on a saddleback cross landrace then maybe? Saddleback sow and landrace sire maybe?
I will be keeping the pigs free range in wooded area so lots of shade. The trees are established eucalyptus and it what everyone recommends here, for a happy cool piggy!
Thanks for the responses guys!
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Sounds ideal. :thumbsup:
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Whichever breed you choose it's got more to do with size and fat distribution than breed and that comes down to how you feed them. You can make fantastic bacon from any pig if you get the rearing right. My vote is Saddleback though.
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I once finished some Saddlebacks but didn't find them as docile as GOS or OSB. Maybe a Saddleback X Yorkshire would be OK? I prefer lop-eared breeds - gives you a sporting chance if you need to catch one!
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Previously we did British lop and they were really docile. When the saddlebacks arrived as weaners they were a bit feisty. Our usual quiet handling and occasional belly scratch has chilled them right out. We had 8 BL and wondered if safety in numbers had anything to do with it
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Saddlebacks and Hampshires are two very different beasts.
Hampshires are more of a commercial breed, a little less docile and designed to grow fast.
Any of the breeds you mention will give you a long lean carcass - but you'll need to take them to 110kg plus live weight to give the loin a chance to develop to maximise your bacon :thumbsup:
HTH
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I hadn't spotted that, Karen. In a way that might make Landrace x black-and-white an even better option, in that back in the 70s when I worked on a large and quite scientifically-run pig farm, the breeding programme involved Large White, Landrace, Welsh and Hampshire. I wish I could remember in which order they were used! There were Large White, Landrace, Welsh and Cotswold boars, we also used AI on the Hampshire females but I don't remember what breed.
I think 'Cotswold' was an F1 hybrid Large White x Landrace.
It was all about 2.2 litters per year, weaning at 21 days, gilts with at least 16 teats, farrowing crates and a dry sow house where the pigs were tied by belly straps for 80% of their lives. Put me off eating pork for a good long while, and sowed the seeds for my passion to treat farm animals humanely and to try to eat only 'happy meat'.
Sorry, rambling!
One thing I do remember, though, was that the pork produced by the intensively-farmed pigs was utterly tasteless.
I had one runty thing as a 'pet' (don't judge me, he had a house outside and some ground to run around on - and never got on the sofa, though he did used to sneak into the kitchen and steal veg out the veg rack; my dog and he were best buds, I used to take them for walks together.) He grew and grew, of course, and when I moved to a place where he couldn't be (bye-laws, cemetery... not worth the risk!), I found him a home at a pub where they also had a goat. Eventually his propensity to beg for ham sandwiches put enough customers off, so he had to go. I couldn't have any myself, but everyone who did said it was the most delicious pork they'd ever eaten. So it was definitely about feeding / lifestyle, and not breeding that had made the intensively-reared stuff so grey and tasteless.
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Not rambling at all Sally! Very interesting! I think I will go for landrace X Hampshire and also breed sole pure for replacement stock as needed!
Thanks all for taking the time to answer :thumbsup: :pig: